The present invention generally relates to displaying helpful information to a user of a computer application program, and more particularly, to a method and a system for displaying context sensitive tips in an unobtrusive manner to the user.
A computer application program often has an associated data file that is processed during the normal execution of the application program. The data file may contain information that is processed for presentation to a user as a video and/or audio performance. A presentation program is one example of a computer application program that processes an associated data file.
A presentation program enables a user to create, edit, manage, and perform xe2x80x9cslide show presentationsxe2x80x9d on a computer. One example of a popular presentation program is xe2x80x9cPowerPoint,xe2x80x9d which is available from the Microsoft Corporation, of Redmond, Wash. A slide show presentation includes a set of electronic xe2x80x9cslides,xe2x80x9d each slide corresponding to one screen or page of output. An electronic slide may also be converted to a 35 mm or overhead transparency for display in a standard slide projector or overhead projector. Each slide may contain one or more objects, such as text, graphic images, graphic automation and animations. A slide may also include a sound object or video that is played when the slide is displayed during a slide show presentation. A presentation program xe2x80x9cperformsxe2x80x9d a slide show by sequentially displaying a series of slides contained within the slide show presentation. The slides are displayed on a computer screen or projected onto a separate surface. During a performance of a slide show, a xe2x80x9cpresenterxe2x80x9d controls the performance by invoking commands to xe2x80x9cadvancexe2x80x9d to the next slide. A command can be entered using a keyboard, a mouse, or another suitable input device. Alternatively, an author of a slide presentation can associate a slide xe2x80x9ctimingxe2x80x9d with each slide. A slide timing associated with a slide indicates the number of seconds that the slide is displayed before the presentation program automatically advances to the next slide in the slide show presentation. In this way, during the performance of the slide show presentation, the presentation program will automatically advance to the next slide when the existing slide""s timing ends. Also, the sequence for displaying the slides in the slide show is determined by the author of the slide show presentation. However, during the performance of the slide show presentation, a presenter may enter commands to the presentation program that will change the sequence for displaying the slides.
Each user of a presentation program may have varying levels of proficiency with different features. For example, one user of the presentation may be familiar with commands for displaying the slide show presentation to others and another user may be versed in commands for authoring the content in a slide. Also, each user""s skill at entering information in a computer may vary. Thus, there is a need to provide access to help information so that a user may learn new features and understand how to more effectively use known features of the presentation program.
Different types of help facilities have been available throughout the history of computer applications. These help facilities have improved from command line displays of plain text to interactive and graphical help facilities, such as the Microsoft Corporation""s xe2x80x9cOffice Assistantxe2x80x9d facility. The xe2x80x9cOffice Assistantxe2x80x9d is a help facility incorporated into the Microsoft Corporation""s xe2x80x9cOffice 97xe2x80x9d suite of application programs for displaying help and/or advisory messages to the user in a standard graphical user interface format, rather than each application in the suite having its own separate format to provide helpful information.
One portion of the xe2x80x9cOffice Assistantxe2x80x9d facility, hereinafter the OA facility, generates the content of the tips that are graphically displayed to a user. Previously, the OA facility did not generate helpful tips that were context sensitive and the facility did not enable the user to select the type of tips, the obtrusiveness of the tips, the relevance of the tips, or customize how the tips were displayed. Also, the tips displayed by the OA facility have been oriented to explaining a feature and did not provide the user with the option of having the facility automatically complete an attempted task. The present invention is directed to solving the problem of providing relevant tips in an unobtrusive, task-oriented, and customizable manner to the user along with the option of automatically completing the attempted task.
In accordance with the present invention, a method for automatically displaying a tip for a condition detected in a computer application program, such as a presentation program, is provided. The method includes: (1) detecting the occurrence of the condition in the application program; (2) determining that the condition is associated with the tip; (3) determining that the tip is relevant to the current use of the application program by a user; (4) displaying a relevant tip message that is associated with the condition, so that the condition may be acknowledged by the user; and (5) responding to the user""s acknowledgment of the tip message in an appropriate way, which may include invoking code in the application to automatically complete the user""s task. A type and a priority is identified for each condition associated with a tip.
In accordance with other aspects of this invention, there are at least two types of tip conditions, i.e., event and state. An event based tip condition is usually associated with an action or a series of actions and a state based tip condition is often associated with the state of the application program.
In accordance with other aspects of the present invention, each type of tip condition has a priority value associated with the tip condition e.g., low, medium and high. For a high priority tip condition, the present invention will immediately display a tip message associated with the tip condition. When a low priority tip condition occurs, the present invention may display a selectable graphic image associated with a tip message for the condition.
In accordance with further aspects of the present invention, a graphic image may be displayed at a location adjacent to an object corresponding to a tip condition that does not have a high priority value. Selecting the graphic image causes a tip message associated with the condition to be displayed and the display of the graphic image to be removed. The graphic image may be translucent and/or an icon. The graphic image is generally sized equal to or greater than a minimum non-obtrusive size and large enough so that the user can view and select the graphic image. When a tip condition does not correspond to an object, the graphic image may be disposed at a default position in the display.
In accordance with still other aspects of this invention, event and state conditions may be associated with an action or series of actions that have a high priority which will cause the invention to immediately display a tip message to the user without first displaying the graphic image.
In accordance with still further aspects of this invention, the event and state conditions may be associated with an action or series of actions that have a medium priority that may cause the immediate display of the graphic image.
In accordance with yet other aspects of this invention, a state condition may be associated with a state of the application program that will cause the display of the graphic image when the application program is idle for a predetermined time interval.
In accordance with yet further aspects of this invention, a description may be displayed with the tip message indicating how to perform a task that will correct the condition associated with the tip. The display of the tip message may be disabled.
In accordance with yet still other aspects of this invention, a type of the condition may be disabled so that a tip message associated with the disabled type of condition will not be displayed. Further, a category for the condition may be selected, e.g., edit, style and clip art, and the category may be disabled so that a tip message associated with the category of the condition will not be displayed.
In accordance with the aspects of this invention, the state condition tips are rechecked each time a displayed object is changed.
In accordance with yet still other aspects of this invention, a user profile may be provided that includes a user proficiency level, a list that identifies each application program available to the user and a list identifying previous help requests of the user. Preferably, a tip message for a low priority tip condition is displayed when a current speed of the user is not greater than an average speed by a predetermined difference.
In accordance with yet other further aspects of this invention, the user profile is employed to determine when the tip associated with the condition is relevant to the user.
In accordance with yet still further aspects of the present invention, an idle loop method for the state type of condition provides for style checking and clip art checking. Also, the event type of condition includes changes to a displayed object and printing errors.
In accordance with still further other aspects of this invention, a control may be displayed with a tip message that provides for the automatic correction of the condition associated with the tip. When the control is selected, the condition is automatically corrected and the tip message is removed from the display.
In accordance with additional aspects of this invention, another control may be displayed with the tip message that provides for the display of additional help information associated with the condition. The other control may be displayed concurrently with the control for automatically correcting the condition associated with the tip. When the other control is selected, the additional help information is displayed.
In accordance with further aspects of the present invention, a preview, e.g., a thumbnail, may be displayed that illustrates the effect of changes that will be made if the user selects the automatic correction of the condition associated with tip.
In accordance with other aspects of the present invention, text that identifies the type of the condition may be displayed when a pointing mechanism is positioned over the graphic image associated with the condition for the tip. This invention may also provide for a control that causes the simultaneous display of every relevant tip message associated with the current condition of the application program. The control may provide for selecting the display of relevant tip messages according to type and/or priority.
In accordance with other aspects of this invention, a control may be provided for automatically correcting a plurality of conditions associated with a relevant tip message. Additionally, this invention may provide for delaying the display of the graphic image for a determined time interval.
In accordance with yet additional aspects of the present invention, a system which implements substantially the same functionality in substantially the same manner as the method described above is provided.
In accordance with other additional aspects of this invention, a computer-readable medium that includes computer-executable instructions may be used to perform substantially the same method as that described above is provided.